Suspected Harasser Questioned: 'However Imagine I Might Be Madeleine?'
A woman accused with pursuing Kate McCann apparently left her a recorded message which questioned: "suppose I am Madeleine?"
Julia Wandelt, 24, who witnesses stated has repeatedly asserted she was the vanished Madeleine McCann, and Karen Spragg are facing charges accused with pursuing Kate and Gerry McCann between June 2022 and February this year.
On Monday, the tribunal heard phone records and data recovered from phones logged Ms Wandelt consistently asking Madeleine's mother for a DNA test throughout that period.
Madeleine's vanishing in 2007 - when she was three years old during a family holiday in Portugal - is one of the most widely reported child disappearance cases and remains open.
'I Don't Want Money'
A separate voicemail, presented in court, recorded Ms Wandelt stating: "I realize I'm overweight and not pretty like Madeleine had been, but I believe what I feel."
While another instance of Ms Wandelt's one-way conversations with Mrs McCann's answerphone said: "What if there is a slight possibility that I am Madeleine? What happens next? Isn't that important for you?"
"I don't want money, I maintain a life here in Poland, I just want to discover," she added.
The panel was informed that via electronic messages, mobile messages and phone calls, Ms Wandelt requested a genetic test, sent childhood photos to her phone in a effort to show a likeness to Mrs McCann's vanished daughter, and claimed to have "memories" from a early life with the McCanns.
Robert Jones, an intelligence analyst with the police force who collated the evidence, told the court there "didn't appear to be any responses" from Mrs McCann.
Ms Wandelt also contacted close associates of the McCanns, according to the call data.
On October 9th, 2024, Mr McCann responded to a communication from Ms Wandelt to his wife's phone, declaring she had "incorrect contact information."
That day Ms Wandelt left a recording on Mrs McCann's voicemail declaring "I won't give up and I will prove my claim."
The court learned the co-defendant struck up a association through digital means with Ms Wandelt prior to accompanying her on a trip to the McCanns' residence in Leicestershire in December 2024.
Call logs revealed Mrs Spragg had communicated through WhatsApp to Mrs McCann to state the news outlets had characterized Ms Wandelt as "a crazy person" but that she deserved to be treated respectfully in the time preceding the visit to the village, the county, in last December.
The court learned correspondence between the two accused, in November 2024, discussing trying to acquire Mrs McCann's DNA samples from her bins or from cutlery at a restaurant.
"We have to assert ourselves," Mrs Spragg told Ms Wandelt.
On the occasion of the appearance to their residence, the defendant dispatched a message which said: "We find ourselves sat adjacent to the McCanns' home with our lights out similar to private investigators. I wanted to accomplish this with another person I never thought I would be engaged in this with the McCanns."
The trial ongoing.